VIDEOS

I’m thrilled to announce that
the latest Catharsis protest album,Find the Common, Shine a Light,
is now available on Greenleaf Music!

The album is our response to growing political and social turmoil, and an urgent call for change

After 6 years of regular touring and performing, Catharsis, continues to evolve our collective sound while speaking out about our troubled times on Find the Common, Shine a Light. With six years of recording and extensive touring under their belt, the band stays true to our “potent blend of cinematic sweep and lush, ear-grabbing melodies” (Los Angeles Times) while opting for a more layered and multifaceted approach in the studio.

Azul Infinito, which features Ryan Keberle’s signature band, Catharsis, includes the vocals of Chilean singer Camila Meza, alongside a frontline of Keberle and GRAMMY-nominated trumpeter Mike Rodriguez, Peruvian-born bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Eric Doob, creates a continuity of sound and aesthetic that could only have resulted from constant playing (often monthly around New York) for the past four years. From this continuity, they breathe as one and express a band aesthetic.

For Keberle, American music’s emotional power, which stems from the blues, is reflected in similarly cathartic afrocentric musical elements found in South American music. Fittingly, Jorge Luis Borges, the noted Argentine writer, called the cathartic act of experiencing art an “evento estético” or “aesthetic event.” As on past records, Keberle’s goal is to allow the listener to feel something through his thoughtful compositions and songs. “I hope this record conveys the influence that South American music has played in my life, and allows listeners to experience their own aesthetic event,” says Keberle. “Each original song on this record is either dedicated to, or directly influenced by, a specific South American composer with whom I’ve had the pleasure to play.”

Azul Infinito press highlights:

“5 new jazz albums you need to hear…inventive, fun, and polished — and never self-indulgent (a jazz rarity)” – Billboard

Most jazz musicians avoid repetition dogmatically. But when Ryan Keberle realized he’d been playing the same eight-note phrase in all his recent warm-ups, the trombonist embraced his inclination. “As I started playing it more and more, I realized I wasn’t thinking of anything else,” he says. “You can reach a real state of mindfulness through repetition.” Keberle built the phrase into “Without a Thought,” the complex but gracefully flowing centerpiece of his new album, Into the Zone. It’s his first for Greenleaf Music—and arguably the most personal document yet from a trombonist and bandleader better known for his soloist role in famed large ensembles.

“accessible and thoughtful, lyrical and cerebral…Keberle and his bandmates weave their voices together with supple ease and understated grace to conjure a collective sound that embraces the listener while rewarding closer attention.” – Shaun Brady, Downbeat

“a delight…The title track shows Keberle shares the taste for soft-edged minimalist grooves which seems to be the hallmark of New York-based musicians, in every style. But not many of them could conceive the lovely melodic curve that curves and droops over the top” – Ivan Hewitt, The Daily Telegraph

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This EP is a rarity for jazz record releases today (in my opinion). A real working band (we’ve played on a monthly basis for almost 2 years now); playing live for thousands of listeners (albeit via the radio airways); we already had one gig under our belt the day of the performance so the band was super loose, in a tight kind of way, by the time of our WNYC performance; AND (this is the kicker) the music was captured by the highest quality vintage ribbon mics and sound board. These mics, by the way, are particularly great for brass instruments. Not too mention we had a great roady (Matt Merewitz) to keep us in line and provide us emotional support and Mexican breakfasts.

The result is a spontaneous, fresh, and cohesive live recording. I can honestly say its one of the highest quality live recordings (from musical and sonic perspectives) that I’ve ever been a part of and my band-mates agree.

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On his third CD, Music Is Emotion, Keberle combines that wealth of influence and experience into a bold group sound with the debut of his pianoless quartet, Catharsis. The band comprises some of the most compelling up-and-coming voices in jazz – trumpeter Mike Rodriguez, bassist Jorge Roeder, and drummer Eric Doob – for a vigorous set of melodic invention, heavy groove, and a subtle indie rock sensibility.

“When you boil down everything else that you love about music, it really comes down to the emotional connection that people make with it,” Keberle says. “Good American popular music has this inherent emotional connection because of the history of the blues in our musical society. With all the social media and technology these days, it seems like it’s getting harder and harder to find that interaction on a personal level. So I’ve been trying to capture that more consciously in my own music.”

Music is Emotion press highlights:

“Trombonist and composer Ryan Keberle’s album Music Is Emotion (Alternate Side Records) introduces his piano-less quartet Catharsis and a sound so full of imaginative interplay and boundless energy that the band seems much larger” – Thomas Staudter, Downbeat

“In forming Catharsis, a piano-less quartet with two horns, bass and drums, Keberle left his self-admitted comfort zone, but it did him some good; this already-stellar artist reaches a new artistic peak with Music Is Emotion.” – Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz

AVAILABLE AT

When I sat down with Ryan to talk to about this record, I could not resist asking him about “the trombone problem” — i.e., the instrument’s lamentable underrepresentation in jazz, dating from pretty much the end of the big band era. I know many serious jazz musicians and fans who don’t own a single trombonist-led album — not even stone classics like The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson or Grachan Moncur’s Evolution.

Trombonists themselves are acutely aware of this, even legends like Bob Brookmeyer: “Sax players got all the girls because they were seated in the front row. Trumpeters got all the money because they were driving the band from the back row. Trombones sit in the middle and develop an interior life.” (Brookmeyer, I should point out, ditched the slide instrument in favor of the valve trombone early on.) But the trombone problem is about more than just lousy PR — there are fearsome technical obstacles to playing fluently in a contemporary jazz language on the trombone. Which certainly didn’t stop Ryan from trying: “I was one of those guys who didn’t listen to trombone records for a long time. For many years I was transcribing all saxophones and trumpets, then I got into pianists like Brad Mehldau and guitarists like Kurt Rosenwinkel… but really, you can’t play that stuff on trombone. You can play some of it, sure, but ultimately it’s going to sound like an approximation, rather than something that really stands on its own.” However, at the ripe age of 29, Ryan has finally made his peace with his horn: “I’ve had a realization —I’m glad I play the trombone. I feel very much in touch with it. I’ve stopped trying to play like a saxophone or a piano. Now, I’m listening to myself more. What I’m playing is what I’d be singing.”

The results of this shift in approach are evident in his dark, unburnished tone, the seamless flow of his phrasing, the architectural curve of his solos, his magnetic sense of groove, and most of all in his commitment to melody.

— Darcy James Argue, 2010

Heavy Dreaming press highlights:

“the best new jazz album of 2010 [Heavy Dreaming]”
– Fred Kaplan, Stereophile

“a sumptuous and spirited disc”
– Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen

“[Keberle] is clearly in the vanguard of a handful of stalwarts
re-introducing the trombone to now unaccustomed ears”
– Bob Gish, Jazz Inside

AVAILABLE AT

The five Keberle originals survey a range of light and dark moods, opaque and translucent harmonies. Keberle’s agile, authoritative horn cuts through like a beacon. The interplay of the two quartets is beautifully realized, and the brass treatments themselves are rich in variety – from dense four-part interludes to soaring soli unison writing, from bold foreground to subtle background. “Wedding Music” was written at the request of pianist Kris Davis and drummer Jeff Davis and performed at their nuptials by a brass trio. Keberle then expanded it for the present group. “Something Speaking,” by contrast, he scaled down from a big band arrangement for the Juilliard Jazz Ensemble. “What Goes Around” grew out of a writing exercise assigned to Keberle by master trombonist Wycliffe Gordon. (It used to have lyrics.) The ballad “When I’m Away” has an earlier provenance – Keberle wrote it at age 19. Taken together, this music reveals a sophistication and creative restlessness that is anything but common. Conversant with the tradition but current in spirit and unique in format, it gives us reason to be optimistic for Keberle’s, and jazz’s, future.

— David Adler, 2006

Ryan Keberle Double Quartet press highlights:

“neatly layered horn passages stand out throughout the disc,
which is distinguished by Keberle’s ever-cheerful solos.”
– Jazz Times

“sprawling, multi-themed approach to composition…
Double Quartet indicates Keberle’s flowering skills as a composer and arranger”
– All About Jazz